A woman from B.C. who came to Red Deer two weeks ago desperately searching for her missing brother was much relieved this week after he contacted her.
And Kelly Gilmour is thanking a former co-worker of her brother for reaching out to him and getting him to contact his family.
RCMP had issued a release on July 1 that Kevin Gilmour, 30, had gone missing in Red Deer where he has lived the past several years. Kelly and her fiancé, Aron McKinnon, flew to Red Deer four days later and began scouring the downtown and other locations for Kevin.
“I heard from my brother on Sunday and my sister (who lives in Lacombe) picked him up,” Kelly said Tuesday.
Kevin, who had become unemployed, had left signs at his apartment where he was being evicted from that raised concerns with the building manager, who then contacted police.
Kelly made a public appeal to Kevin through the Red Deer Advocate that his family wanted to help him get back on his feet. They would bring him back to B.C., help him get a job and find a place for him to stay.
“I don’t have a lot of details … I wasn’t being too pushy with him because I just wanted him to come back. … He’s going to come out here tomorrow.”
She said her brother was in Red Deer the whole time he was missing but she doesn’t know yet where or what he was doing. “My brother’s a keep-to-himself type person.” It was out of character for him to just disappear and she described him as a responsible person.
Kelly said she felt really good that Kevin had been located. “It took a huge weight off my chest. … It’s just a huge, huge difference to know that he’s okay.”
She said Kevin had run into the former co-worker who had read the Advocate story, had located Kevin, told him his family was trying to reach out to him, and lent him some money as well.
“I’m actually pretty grateful to this person too because I felt like it helped him feel like he should come back,” Kelly said, adding that her brother already has some plans for getting back to work.
barr@www.reddeeradvocate.com